Pre-Salt

The wealth of Brazil in the hands of the Brazilian people

Under Lula, Petrobras made an extraordinary technological leap that allowed it to become capable of something never before attempted: the extraction of petroleum at 7000 m below the surface, 300 km off the coast. With Dilma, the production of the pre-salt, whose reserves are estimated at 35 billion barrels, Brazil will double production by 2020, reaching 4.2 million barrels per day, and become one of the largest exporters of petroleum in the world.

What is more important: instead o handing over the largest part of this wealth of the Brazilian people to foreign companies, as was done in the past, the PT governments chose to use the production sharing model, guaranteeing the largest part of the profits to the federal government and making the production and exploration of the pre-salt subordinate to the industrial and technological development of Brazil, and making various production chains more dynamic. Instead of, as in the past, purchasing ships and platforms from overseas, generating income and employment for others, Lula and Dilma revived the Brazilian shipbuilding industry, which today employs 78,000 workers - as opposed to only 3000 under the PSDB government.

Over the next three decades, the petroleum that flows from the depths of the sea will provide more than R $1.3 trillion to education and health, thanks to the new legislation sanctioned by President Dilma in 2013.

And what if the resident people had not elected Lula and Dilma? All that wealth could have been privatized or else remained forever forgotten at the bottom of the sea.

Previously threatened by privatization, Petrobras gained strength from the pre-salt and will double output by 2020 Gogole+Facebook

In addition to giving away part of the wealth from petroleum to foreign companies, the PSDB almost gave away Petrobras. The government of Fernando Henrique began the process of privatization by selling almost 70% of the shares of the company on the New York and São Paulo stock exchanges, which carry the right dividends on their profits. They were very closed to giving up state control of the company and selling the most valuable of our companies as they had done with countless other riches of the Brazilian people. They even tried to change the name “Petrobras” to “Petrobrax” - because “bras” does not sound right to those who prefer to write Brazil with a “z”.

But Petrobras fought back. With Lula and Dilma the company was reborn, believed in its own worth and invested like never before in technology, becoming a company capable of searching for petroleum at more than 7000 m below the surface, petroleum and that would be transformed into more education, health, and economic and social development for Brazil.

With the pre-salt our average daily production will increase from 1.9 million bpd in 2013 to more than 5.2 million bpd in the 2020/2030 period. This means that there will be more and more books, schools, hospitals, doctors and teachers. With Lula and Dilma, Petrobras began to produce one of the great transformations in our history.

In 2002, that the end of the opposition party government, Petrobras was worth no more than US$15.4 billion. Lula and Dilma multiplied this by seven: US$110.8 billion was, at the beginning of August 2014, the market value of a company that is in fact, priceless, and if left to the Brazilian people and the PT governments will never be sold.

With Allawi on the immediate profits of the large shareholders and their entrance in Brazil, the opposition government’ s Petrobrax invested less than R $19 billion in 2002; with Lula and Dilma, investment jumped to R $104 billion in 2013. Thanks to the strategic decision, production, which was 1.5 million barrels per day in 2002, rose to 1.9 7 million barrels per day in 2013 and has not stopped growing.

Another fundamental difference: with the PSDB opposition party, profits from the petroleum extracted went to the company; with the new production-sharing model under Lula and Dilma the exploration of trolling is subordinated to the interests of Brazil, and will majority of the dividends are used for the education and health of the Brazilian people, as opposed to the wishes of powerful foreign interests.

Could it be that this is why “they” campaign so hard against Petrobras?

The long-term interest of the Brazilian people versus the immediate profits of the market Gogole+Facebook

Even though they fare badly in the comparison with the Lula and Dilma Governments, the PetroBrax supporters in the opposition party - who drove down the value of Brazil's largest company - complain about the "devaluation" of the current "low market value" of Petrobras.

During the Lula government Petrobras in fact reached a record market value, mainly thanks to the discovery of pre-salt. It turns out that the market reflects the immediate interests of shareholders. They, the shareholders, were happy with the discovery of pre-salt, but some of them do not view the heavy investments that Petrobras makes today for yields in 2020, when Brazil will more than double the total production of oil and gas. These investments temporarily reduce the profits of the company - and the market wants to earn as much as possible in the shortest possible time. Lula and Dilma, on the other hand, think of the future of Brazil and the Brazilian people.

If the market still had the influence on Petrobras decisions that it had in the past, it would require that the government continue buying ships and platforms abroad, as it did before, because it is less expensive (for whom?). Short-term (always the short term). Lula and Dilma, in contrast, are concerned about the technological development of Brazil, the strengthening of our industries and in the generation of employment and income for Brazilian workers.

An Accident at Sea and an ecological disaster: how “they” almost sunk the largest company in Brazil Gogole+Facebook

With Lula and Dilma, the shipbilding industry was reborn. The federal government now requires that at least 60% of the equipment is produced in Brazil, generating jobs and income for the Brazilians, while "they" thought it more profitable (for whom?) to purchase equipment overseas.

With Lula and Dilma, platforms made in Brazil produce more and more wealth; in the opposition government in 2001, the imported P-36 platform exploded, killing 11 workers and sending an investment of US$ 350 million to the bottom of the sea. Fate? No: Errors engineering design and in maintenance and operation, according to a report by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and the Navy.

The year before, the company had caused two serious ecological disasters, spilling 4 million liters of oil into the Barigui and Iguaçu (Paraná) rivers and throwing 1.3 million liters in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro), damagine mangrove swamps and killing tons fish, among other damage to flora and fauna to large to estimate.

In June 2014, the Dilma government announced direct contracting of Petrobras to produce in four areas of the pre-salt. The decision, taken to defend the sovereignty and interests of Brazil, set up in the largest contraction of oil in the world, including the oil from Libra. Together, the areas of Buzios, Florin, the Entorno de Iara and the Nordeste de Tupi are estimated to produce volumes of between 10 and 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Added to the mega field of Libra, acquired in 2013 by an international consortium led by Petrobras, the potential production of the pre-salt, under the production sharing regime comes to a total volume of 18 to 26 billion barrels.

In the same month of June, only eight years after its discovery, the production of pre-salt surpassed 500,000 barrels, countering critics who said the pre-salt was electioneering fiction, Petrobras and the federal government made a grave mistake in seeking a differentiated regime for the exploration and production of this enormous wealth. The production - sharing scheme adopted for the new contracts in the pre-salt, in addition to being the most suitable for lower risk areas also allows a better distribution of oil wealth for the entire Brazilian society.

The discovery of oil in the pre-salt was announced in 2006 by Petrobras, based on the first oil found in the Tupi area, in the Santos basin. The discovery was confirmed by the company the following year. In 2008, the first oil originating in the pre-salt was produced, taken from the Jubarte field in the Campos basin. In 2009, Petrobras began to produce the first barrels of oil in Tupi. In July 2014, Petrobras exceeded 500,000 bpd from the pre-salt. The forecast is to reach 1 million barrels per day in 2017 and 2.1 million in 2020.

"Petrobras today is the face of this new Brazil. (...) Petrobras got there, among other reasons, because this government had faith and invested, giving it the conditions to increase production, to contract platforms, drilling rigs, modernize and expand its refineries, and train and hire employees. In addition to building the infrastructure for natural gas and biofuels. The culmination of this effort was precisely the discovery by Petrobras, of the reserves in the pre-salt. An extraordinary feat, earning admiration around the world and the pride of Brazilians."

Attempts at privatization left deep scars, but we have restored Petrobras

"Petrobras fiercely resisted the attempts to deminish it, devalue it and privatize it. The attempts to dimantle Petrobras left deep, but temporary, scars (...) Unlike in the past, Petrobras is now the company that invests in Brazil (...) Net income Petrobras also made a quantum leap: from R $ 8.1 billion to R $ 23.6 billion (...) These and other achievements prove that our governments, mine and President Lula’s raised Petrobras from the ashes. (...) This is how the company was transformed into the company that most invests in exploration for oil in the world."